State orders steep reduction in workers’ compensation rates

Good news for Florida employers: You can look forward to the fourth consecutive rate decrease since the state enacted workers' comp reforms in 2003.

The state's insurance commissioner, Kevin McCarty, recently rejected the National Council on Compensation Insurance's rate filing, which proposed an average statewide 13.3 percent cut for workers' comp insurance.

McCarty took issue with the council's methodology in the initial filing, ordering it to come back with a 15.7 percent cut. That would yield savings of more than $400 million for Florida employers.